The Eleven Doctors Special for Children In Need?

The Daily Mirror is reporting that all eleven Doctors will be coming together for a special one-off special for Children in Need this November. It reports that the 15 minute episode will be included in BBC1 annual Children In Need appeal in November and shooting of it will begin in September.

This is not the first time a rumour of this nature appeared in the tabloids. The same thing was said to be happening last year for Children in Need except with 10 Doctors which did not happen.

The article states that "images from their original shows, stretching from 1966 to 1974" will be used for the actors William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton, and Jon Pertwee who have since passed away. They will make cameo appearances through footage from these previous episodes.

It states the living actors have all waived their fee for this charitable venture.

"This is a momentous episode for all Doctor Who fans. Never before have all the Doctors been in the same room, let alone in the same show," their unnamed source says as stated in the article.

It continues, "...the script has already been started and it’s classic Doctor Who – really witty and very sharp."

"Viewers will see the Time Lords regenerating and emerging one by one from the TARDIS, each with their own quirky opening line."

The BBC has not confirmed this story. According to the article, they only confirmed that there would be a Doctor Who special for Children in Need. This is not surprising as Doctor Who has had a good tradition of having special offerings for the Children in Need appeal.

Let us not forget we have not seen Doctor 11 yet. So would it be some weird advance look at him? Which would give away his costume unless it is just after regeneration, which would make DT's Dr know his regeneration is defiantly imminent.

David Tennant's comments about this story (from an interview in the Chicago Tribune):

Now I also have to ask, I read a story about all 11 Doctors being united for a charity special some time this fall. Is there any truth to that?

Ooooh, that sounds like a good tabloid wheeze!

Well, if there's one thing I've learned from reading UK tabloids it's not to trust UK tabloids. So I thought I'd ask the source.

Oh sure. So what are they saying?

They're saying that for Children in Need, there will be a 15-minute charity film, it will reunite all the past Doctors via old footage or newly shot scenes. So I didn't know if you knew anything about that.

It's not something I've heard anything about. And I would have thought they'd be in touch. But that'd be quite a curious way to introduce Matt Smith, I'd have thought they'd wait until his first ["Doctor Who"] story. Not anything I've heard about yet.

Well it will be great to see these doctors again. I still remember the series in my older days in which they launched an eating disorder treatment program. It was a great series and I expect the remake to be even better.

Insistence on veting the script isn't all that unusual. There's not much point in appearing in a special if the story isn't worth the trouble. If the story is written by Steven Moffat himself though, I'm sure it would be good enough to make Tom interested, assuming the story is true in the first place. Tom's stories often tended to lean on the scary side, and Steven's scripts have the same tendancies.

While it's certainly true that the last time we got any quote from Tom on the matter, he had mentioned playing The Master, it's also true that until recently he had no interest in reprising the role of The Doctor in any way. Now, he's been confirmed as doing a series of audio books/dramas for the BBC. If he's willing to change is stance for audio, he may be interested in something more mainstream.

Unfortunately, this may also be the thinking of an enterprising tabloid reporter who decided it might sound believable enough to sell a few papers to some Tom Baker fans (who are legion).

Issue 411 just came out and his answer was an emphatic NO to the question if, as Peter Davison had done in TIME CRASH, he would ever do a special. He then went on to discuss his "Master" idea. This interview was very recent and the issue came out this month or just last month.

If they were planning on something like TIME CRASH, I'm overly glad. Can you imagine it? Tennant or maybe Smith mugging it up at Tom's great big belly, "Oh that's, that don't worry about that, that's just the time inversion cone, it's gonna go back to normal as soon as time reverses itself and as for your white hair, that'll go back too, don't you worry, dear old me, you were my MY DOC, yes, indeed, my doc, oh the others, all old and old and unfunny and running around but you, you had plans, didn't you!?"

It would so SUCK! Tom's correct in not wanting to do it. Now if he wrote it, I don't care really what they do! The man's crazy but he's brilliant

An idea that i've thought of that if they ever wanted to do a Time Crash idea with the 4th doctor, in an attempt to explain his obvious aging would be to say the 4th doctor was pulled out of time during "The Leisure Hive." If you remember, the Doctor goes into that box or device and comes out an old man. I always thought that would make a perfect way to describe the obvious appearance of age. Oh well, probably will never be but it is definitely fun to think about.

"Gosh, that takes me back. Or forward. That's the trouble with time travel; you can never remember." (The Doctor, The Androids of Tara)